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19-07-2023
Bureau Report + Agencies
PERTH/ SYDNEY: Australian authorities were confounded after a mysterious object washed up at Green Head beach, about 250km (155 miles) north of Perth days ago but it has been answered by Indian officials who say that the large metal may be part of their rocket but it will be said after thorough analysis.
“We can’t confirm it’s ours unless we analyses it,” Sreedhara Somanath told media.
After the object washed ashore, speculations sparked that maybe it was part of an aircraft MH370 with 239 passengers which went missing off the West Australian coast in 2014. However, experts said “no chance” of it.
Some people also stated that it was from India’s latest Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 which blasted off Friday. However, the experts ruled it out.
The cylindrical object generated excitement among locals as police termed it “hazardous” and urged people to keep a “safe distance from it”.
According to Australian media, Green Head Beach residents said the cylinder was about 2.5m wide and between 2.5m and 3m long.
Geoffrey Thomas, an aviation expert said the item was possibly a fuel tank from a rocket that had fallen into the Indian Ocean at some stage in the past 12 months.
It was possible the giant cylinder could have fallen from a “foreign space launch vehicle” and it would liaise with other international agencies, the Australian space agency stated.
After this, people believed that the object was a fuel tank of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) uses to launch satellites into space.
Days after the Indian launch of Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon, people guessed that it may be debris of that, however, experts suggested that the object had been in the water for at least months.
ISRO’s chief Somanath, said that there was “no mystery” about the object, confirming that “it is part of some rocket”.
“It could be a PSLV or any other and unless we see and analyse it, it cannot be confirmed,” he said.
Somanath, however, confirmed that “some of the PSLV parts are known to have fallen in the sea beyond Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone” and said that the object “may have been floating for a long time and finally reached shore”.
He added that there was no danger associated with the debris.
